Maintenance and Backstab

Name: Du Ge;

Number: 48699527;

Mental Strength: 60;

Current Rank: 3000/3000;

Round Keyword: Maintenance;

Round Keyword: Backstab;

Advanced Skill: None;

Derivative Item: None;

Du Ge opened his eyes. A string of data floated before him, illusory and futuristic. Beyond it, he could see dusty beams, crossbeams, and rafters overhead.

The old-fashioned architecture clearly didn't belong in the modern world.

Had he transmigrated? Was he dreaming?

A faint smell of blood and sourness lingered under his nose. It made him uncomfortable. Du Ge instinctively tried to sit up, but a sharp pain throughout his body sent him falling back down.

Hiss!

Du Ge groaned. Only then did he realize that his whole body, his internal organs included, felt as if they'd been torn apart. There wasn't a single place that didn't hurt.

What the hell!

Du Ge grimaced. Had this body been beaten up by dozens of people?

Still, it confirmed that he'd transmigrated. This definitely wasn't a dream. If it were, he would've woken up from pain this intense.

Du Ge sighed inwardly. These days, transmigration was getting more and more outrageous. Now it wouldn't even leave people alone in their sleep.

"Don't bother. Your injuries are worse than mine. You won't be able to move unless you rest for a month." A muffled voice came from beside him.

Du Ge turned his head. Another injured person lay on the wooden bed next to his.

The man's face was swollen like a pig's head. A dirty, bloodstained strip of cloth was stuffed into one nostril, and he eyed Du Ge with a swollen eye while his mouth kept moving.

He had one arm he could still move. With it, he tore at the straw mat beneath him and kept stuffing dry, shriveled reed stems into his mouth, as if they were the most delicious food in the world.

But judging by the grimace he made as he swallowed, Du Ge could tell the mat didn't taste good. By now, the man had chewed away a chunk of the reed-woven mat about twenty centimeters square.

Was his family so poor that he had to eat the mat?

Taking stock of his situation, Du Ge felt a wave of sorrow. Had he not only transmigrated into a badly injured person, but one so poor he couldn't even afford food?

What kind of person had he transmigrated into?

What a terrible start!

Du Ge refocused on the personal data before him and felt a little relieved. At least he had a cheat...

The man kept chewing as he asked, "Brother, what's your keyword?"

Du Ge froze and instinctively looked at the two keywords on his personal profile: "Maintenance" and "Backstab." What was going on?

Did everyone have a panel?

Was it not his exclusive cheat?

What the hell...

"Stop pretending." The man managed a strained smile. "I watched you take over this body. Don't believe that stuff your Civilian School teachers told you about never revealing your keyword. It's all nonsense. This is a Simulation Field trial, not the real Alien Battlefield. We can only both win if we work together. If we don't, with your current condition, I'll eliminate you in no time once I recover. Believe me?"

A Simulation Field?

An Alien Battlefield?

What were those supposed to be?

Du Ge grew even more confused. He hated this feeling. Having no information at all was too unfriendly to a transmigrator. If he'd transmigrated, why hadn't he gotten his host's memories?

After a brief silence, Du Ge calmed down and asked, "The basis for cooperation is honesty. Tell me your keyword first."

"Honesty?" The man gave a dismissive laugh and waved the piece of reed mat in his hand. "I've been eating this awful mat without stopping. With a hint that obvious, what do you think my keyword is?"

Du Ge replied coolly, "People can pretend."

"More of that Civilian School nonsense..." The man stared at Du Ge in disbelief, then let out an amused snort. "I give up. You think I'm gnawing on a mat that even dogs wouldn't eat just to fool you? Who do you think you are?"

A keyword related to eating?

Du Ge thought about his own keywords and tentatively asked, "Ravenous?"

"Go to hell with 'ravenous.' You can't play dumb this badly." The man snapped, "My keyword is Taotie."

"Taotie?" Du Ge repeated, surprised.

"Right." The man grew smug and waved the stalk in his hand. "As long as I keep eating, I can grow at an incredible rate. It's one of the best keywords. Before I took over this body, my injuries were about as bad as yours. I ate two bowls of rice and a piece of mat, and now I can sit up. Brother, you'll benefit greatly from working with me. Otherwise, with injuries like yours, you probably won't make it."

Du Ge saw the two empty bowls in front of the man, then looked at the empty space beside his own bed. He didn't care that the guy had stolen his food. Instead, he focused on the crucial part of what he'd said: Taotie. As long as he kept eating, he could grow at an incredible rate...

It seemed keywords were the key to breaking out of this predicament.

Du Ge considered his own keywords: Maintenance and Backstab. If Taotie meant eating, then what did Maintenance and Backstab mean?

Two definitions surfaced in his mind:

Maintenance: to maintain or protect, keeping something from being damaged; synonyms: repair, upkeep, protection, cover.

Backstab: a strike from behind, a knife in the back; synonyms: betrayal, sneak attack.

Before transmigrating, Du Ge had studied Chinese literature. He knew these words' meanings perfectly well. Since Taotie meant that eating could make someone grow...

By the same logic, the key to his growth should be maintaining or protecting other people.

But if he had Maintenance, why was his second keyword Backstab?

They should contradict each other!

No.

The man had only mentioned one keyword just now...

Du Ge looked at him and asked vaguely, "Anything else?"

"What do you mean, anything else?" the man asked. Then he gave a cold laugh. "Brother, don't get greedy. I'm the one with the upper hand here..."

"My keyword is Maintenance." Since the other man had only revealed one keyword, Du Ge kept one of his hidden too.

There was so much he didn't understand. Whatever the other man's intentions were, any information he could get from him—even if it wasn't true—was better than fumbling around on his own.

Revealing one keyword should be enough to earn his trust. Besides, a keyword like Backstab would only work if kept secret. There was no need to reveal it. Du Ge was even prepared to make something up if the man asked.

"Maintenance?" But the man didn't ask anything else. His eyes lit up as he swallowed the straw mat in his mouth. "A support-type keyword. Fantastic! You really are the perfect partner chosen by fate. It was worth chasing you all the way here to take over your body. You protect me while I eat like crazy, and I'll carry you to victory. We'll knock everyone else out..."

The other man showed no sign of having a second keyword. Did he only have one?

It seemed Du Ge did have a cheat of his own, but it still needed testing...

Du Ge gave a wry smile and tried to get friendly. "Brother, what's your name?"

The man said, "Feng Jiu."

"Your real name?" Du Ge asked.

"Of course I mean the name of this body." Feng Jiu gave a soft laugh. "Little brother, our relationship only lasts for this Simulation Field. We each get what we need. Once we leave, we don't know each other. Got it?"

"Understood." Du Ge nodded and didn't press him further.

This was the second time Feng Jiu had mentioned the Simulation Field. Given their current situation, Du Ge guessed that it probably meant the world they were in.

A real world simulated for people to play in?

Du Ge looked around.

The building, the smells, the pain in his body...

Everything felt lifelike.

If such a realistic world were virtual, how advanced would the technology in the other world have to be?

If this was a game, there ought to be an exit button, right?

Du Ge looked at his character panel again. He couldn't find an exit button, but he did notice one of the numbers had changed. His current rank had been 3000/3000. Now it was 1115/1213.

"1213?" Du Ge muttered deliberately.

"Those are the sixty percent who failed to take over a body," Feng Jiu remarked, looking at Du Ge. "Brother, I have to say, with your mental strength, you were incredibly lucky to find a badly injured person and successfully take over his body."

A sixty percent elimination rate?

Picking out the key point in what Feng Jiu had said, Du Ge kept probing. "Ninth Brother, do you think the two of us can eliminate other people if we work together?"

"Definitely." Feng Jiu grimaced and kept chewing the mat. "My keyword is Taotie, after all—the very definition of an easy win. Add your Maintenance, and there's no way we won't make the top ten. Don't worry. If I make the top ten, I'll bring you along. Otherwise, with a bland keyword like Maintenance, you'd never grow strong."

"Ninth Brother, I'm counting on you." Du Ge forced a smile. "Ninth Brother, do you know what kind of people the two of us took over? Tell me about them. I don't know anything, and I don't want to give myself away..."

"You don't have any memories?" Feng Jiu asked in surprise.

So he was the only one without memories. What a damn scam!

Du Ge cursed inwardly and said dejectedly, "I don't remember anything. I don't know what went wrong."

Feng Jiu looked at Du Ge sympathetically and clicked his tongue. "Maybe the person you took over was too badly injured and died during the possession, so you lost the memories. It's happened in the Simulation Field before. Good thing you ran into me. Otherwise, with a support-type keyword and no memories, how would you manage?"

Whew!

Du Ge let out a quiet breath and smiled bitterly. "Just bad luck, I guess!"

"You've turned your luck around by meeting me." Feng Jiu spat out a bit of straw he couldn't swallow and cursed, "Damn, this stuff tastes awful. Once I recover, I'll eat delicacies at every meal. I deserve it after chewing on a mat."

He tore off another piece of the mat and stuffed it into his mouth. "Your name in this world is Feng Qi, and mine is Feng Jiu. We're sparring partners for several young masters and disciples of the Feng Family."

Du Ge asked in confusion, "Sparring partners?"

"More like punching bags." Feng Jiu spat out another bit of straw. "Those young masters don't treat sparring partners like people. Otherwise, why do you think we're so badly injured? Still, we got lucky. If they hadn't injured these bodies so badly, taking them over wouldn't have been so easy..."

Punching bags?

Du Ge's face darkened. Sure enough, this was still a miserable start.

He continued, "Ninth Brother, is there any other crucial information?"

"In half a year, the Qiao Family Holy Land will open. The tenth Martial Arts Tournament will be held then, selecting outstanding young martial artists to enter the Holy Land and hunt for treasure. That's probably the world's main storyline. We need to find a way to enter the tournament. Sticking close to the main storyline is our best chance of getting a good ranking." Feng Jiu looked at Du Ge and spoke seriously. "The Feng Family's young masters and direct disciples are preparing for the tournament, so they've been taking out their frustration on us sparring partners. That's why we're so badly hurt. Our most urgent task is to find a way out of the Feng Family. Otherwise, they'll train us to death sooner or later..."